Texas Tooth Law

Posted on Sunday, May 16, 2010 by Toothlaw Admin in All Postings, TSBVME History and Information, Texas Updates |

Dewey Helmcamp is the Executive Director of The Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners. He is the public face of the TSVMBE. The following are quotations he has made on the record about equine dentistry in Texas.
Read our reply at the bottom.

Words From Dewey E. Helmcamp III, Ex. Dir. TSBVME

In Texas and, I suspect, in many other states equine dentists now use power tools to grind the teeth rather than files and to use these tools they must sedate the equine. Also, these unlicensed persons pull teeth and diagnose diseases of the mouth, such as TMJ, etc. In short, they are, as is so often the case with “para-professionals” pushing the envelope of the scope of their activities.

Some of the other paraprofessionals mentioned must attend years of school and pass exams and be licensed and must work under the general supervision of the licensee (dentist, lawyer, physician, ect.[sic]); not so with equine dentists in Texas. Here, there is no legally required schooling, training or exam before one can practice nor any supervision by a veterinarian. True, while some do attend a school that is less than 2 months long, most don’t.

Finally, the possession and use of controlled substances and dangerous drugs by these unlicensed and unregulated persons to sedate horses is illegal and can pose a serious threat to the health of the equine. There is clearly a place in veterinary medicine for the equine dentist, but not without the appropriate involvement and supervision of a veterinarian.

From comments at www.harnesslink.com/www/Article.cgi?ID=70080 at 03:00 AM 04-Feb-2009

“It’s a difficult thing,” Executive Director Dewey Helmcamp said. “We understand it’s been a longstanding practice that has grown up, but what I want to emphasize is these people are not licensed by anyone.”

“Over the years, the state has allowed the regular filing of horse teeth to be conducted by someone other than a vet. Horse teeth grow constantly and must be filed once or twice a year to remove fang-like points and align the animal’s bite.
Traditionally done with a hand-held file, the procedure has started involving more sophisticated methods, including power tools, which may require the animal to be sedated, Mr. Helmcamp said.

…

He said he has heard concerns from veterinarians and horse owners about problems. He says the Legislature gave the agency specific approval in 2005 to step in.”

Vet, horse dentist feud opens wide

State board backs animal doctors in fight over tooth care

12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 – AP

“You have some very bright, enterprising people who have developed portable tools, grinding bits and such,” Helmcamp said. “Most horses won’t tolerate the sound of that electric bit unless they’ve gotten some basic sedation. Second, it’s far easier to do serious damage with one of these high-speed bits than the old fashioned way. You can expose raw pulp and cause infection

.

“It’s that combination of things that have changed the dynamic of what’s called teeth floating.”

Horse floaters bite back over regulation

By Lynn Brezosky – Express-News

Article Cited

“It’s a difficult thing,” Executive Director Dewey Helmcamp said. “We understand it’s been a longstanding practice that has grown up, but what I want to emphasize is these people are not licensed by anyone.”

What’s this all mean?

1. Dewey Helmcamp is misinformed about Equine Dentistry as an industry.

2. Dewey Helmcamp is creating a “big green monster” out of the industry use of power tools.

3. Dewey Helmcamp never tells us how long you should study to be an Equine Practitioner.

4. Dewey Helmcamp says you must have illegal substances to use the newfangled power equipment.

5. Dewey Helmcamp recognizes this as a long standing industry, yet seeks to disrupt it now.

6. Dewey Helmcamp says this was traditionally done with a hand tool.

7. Dewey Helmcamp says the procedures have become more complicated.

8. Dewey Helmcamp says you can expose raw pulp and cause infection with power tools.

9. Dewey Helmcamp says that because there is no licensing agency, then these people should be out of work.

1. As extrapolated upon in the “About Eqd” section, there is nothing new about “paraprofessionals” or “lay practitioners” practicing Equine Dental techniques. Before veterinarians were legally recognized as such, they were a lot of people cutting up animals to learn how they worked. Our industry has developed both apart and in conjunction with veterinary medicine. Our practitioners created the tools to use, documented many of the original problems with equine mastication, and brought the problems associated with the domesticated horse to the light of the broader community. Because of this, they are being pushed out by veterinarians who specialize in no particular aspect of animal care. The work and study of Equine Practitioners has led to the creation of the “tools of the trade,” power tools, full mouth speculums, and a multitude of tools.

2. The “Big Green Monster” – power tools. Power tools weren’t created to remove more tooth, quicker. They were designed to ease the discomfort involved in the removal of points in a horse’s mouth. They reduce arm fatigue, improve accuracy, and provide for a reduced recovery time. Dr. Tom Allen (yes, a ve who restricts his practice to Equine Dentistryt) has stated that just as much damage can be caused in a horse’s mouth through hand tools as with power tools. It’s not the tool, it’s the improvement in abrasives combined with bad hands. And those bad hands include the hands of many veterinarians.

3. A vet has to know how to treat every disorder of every animal from a gerbil to an elephant! Of course this requires years of training. An Equine Dental Practitioner, on the other hand, works with one animal, specifically on their head. How long should a person be required to study to understand the specifics of Equine Dentistry? What idiocy promotes the notion that a horse owner has such poor judgement to use their Equine Dental Practitioner to diagnose veterinary problems?

4. Not all Equine Dental Practitioners use sedation. Those that do often have the blessing of a veterinarian. Modern sedatives are a controlled substance. You have to have a DEA number to prescribe them. So, we’re not arguing that these sedatives should be used illegally. If it’s a federal offense, then it should be prosecuted – even by going so far as prosecuting the vet who illegally sold sedatives.

5. This is an old industry, and recognized as such. Now that it has matured to the point where a person can make a significant income, the veterinarian community is working to monopolize it. Countless prefaces to veterinary dental books start with “often overlooked profit potential” of veterinary dentistry. If shoeing wasn’t such hard, sweaty, work, it would probably be next.

6. The initial patents for power instrumentation date back to the turn of the 19th century.

7. It’s an amazing thought to think that the equine mouth has evolved to be more complicated over the last 1000 years of record equine history. There must be many new and more complicated problems that have grown up over the last 20 years. Perhaps he meant to say that as an industry we’ve developed ways to more successfully treat complicated equine dental issues.

8. Dr. Tom Allen says you can expose pulp with hand tools.

9. We say let them work. Work with them to create a licensing plan that makes sense. Tell us the box from which you want us to work, and let us comply with reasonable laws.

Dewey’s gotten over 400 letters just wanting Carl to go back to work! Maybe one of these days he will recognize that he’s received at least one of them.